


May Have Failed

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [50]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Clint Is a Good Bro, Domestic Avengers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, Multi, Nightmares, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sleepy Cuddles, Tony Feels, Tony Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Triggers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-11 21:00:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7069933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When it came down to it, it was never a choice. Tony would always put the Avengers first, so when it was their life on the line and the price to pay was his silence, Tony kept his mouth shut.</p><p>OR</p><p>The one where Tony can't tell the others he didn't cheat or they would be killed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Strength You Lack

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ariette](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariette/gifts), [andysanime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andysanime/gifts).



> TRIGGERS YO!
> 
> If rape/non-con is a trigger for you, don't read this.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari

“I will blow up every single one of your precious Avengers if you tell a soul you didn’t beg for this,” he hissed for the twenty-seventh time, still roughly pushing into Tony, who was bound to the couch. “Do you understand me? Every last one of them will be dead if you tell them. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me – you’re only human after all. Who would believe you anyway?”

Tony focused on the couch cushions in front of his face. This villain – he could be nothing but a villain – had taken advantage of Tony at a gala, cornering the man, drugging him just enough to make him compliant, the leading him to this room, making sure to be caught by the press for a few good photos with well placed hands. That had been four hours and fifty-two minutes ago. The man – Redding, his name was Redding and he owned a chain of food stores that only sold vegan food items – had taken many pictures and videos of him fucking Tony while Tony had still been drugged, but had been forced to strap down his toy when Tony started coming out of it enough to fight back.

Finally, Redding came, pulling out to splatter his sperm across Tony’s bare back. With a final slap to the billionaire’s ass, Redding cut the ties that held Tony’s hands in place but left the feet restrained, wanting time to get away but not wanting Tony to be found restrained.

“Remember my promise, my little toy,” said Redding. “It would be so easy and no one would suspect a vegan store owner. No one will believe you.”

Then he was gone.

Slowly, painfully, Tony untied himself from the couch and rose. He found his clothes, slipped them on, but couldn’t find his shoes anywhere. It didn’t really matter but it was surprisingly degrading, not having shoes to walk away wearing.

When he reached the Tower, the first thing Tony did was stop by his lab. He stripped out of his clothes and threw them into the incinerator. Then he peed into a cup and sent that to his most trusted lab for testing – he knew whatever drug he was given would show up there. He hated it but had JARVIS take photos and saved them on a secure, separate server for later, and then he showered.

The water was as close to scalding as Tony could convince his AI to make it and he scrubbed his skin until it was pink and red. He still didn’t feel clean – he doubted he would ever feel clean again – but it was better than the sticky feeling of Redding’s drying semen on his back and in his hair. By the time he managed to drag himself away from the shower, it was just after 6 in the morning and Tony was utterly exhausted.

“Sir, a Mr. Redding Fuller has released a video and several images of the two of you together,” said JARVIS as Tony stepped out of the elevator onto his shared floor.

“Fine,” said Tony, his exhaustion bone deep; it took too much effort to care at the moment.

Tony stumbled into the bedroom he shared with Steve and Bucky, ready to collapse on the enormous bed and never get up again, only to stop short at the news playing on the screen that both of his boyfriends were watching.

It was him, Tony Stark, getting fucked by Redding. Tony didn’t realize the news would play something like that – he knew the pictures would be released but the video was explicit and surely there were rules about showing a rape on national television. But no one knew it wasn’t consensual.

“How could you?” said Steve, looking at Tony with tears in his eyes.

“Get out,” demanded Bucky.

“But –“ said Tony, though he wasn’t sure what he was going to say – he couldn’t tell them what had happened.

“No,” growled Bucky, standing up protectively in front of Steve. “Get out now. I can’t even look at you right now.”

Tony fled, those words ringing back to hours before when Redding said the same thing as he tied Tony to the couch. The store owner had declared the mass of scarring where the arc reactor used to be disgusting, said that he couldn’t stand to look at Tony, and proceeded to fuck the billionaire from behind.

“Sir,” said JARVIS.

Tony’s breathing was out of control, on the verge of passing out because of it, but Tony didn’t stop until he found himself in Clint’s room. The two were good friends and pulled pranks together, Clint would know how to distract Tony from his world falling apart around him.

“They broke up with you,” said the archer drily, oiling his bow while Tony hit his knees in the middle of the plush carpet.

“It’s not what you think,” said Tony after several minutes of controlled breathing exercises. 

“You got caught cheating on national television,” said Clint. “I’m pretty sure unless you slipped and fell on his dick then it’s exactly what we think.”

“They didn’t have to break up with me,” whispered Tony as his only defense because there wasn’t a way he could explain what happened and not get his friends killed. “They’re the best things to ever happen to me.”

“You should have thought about that before you fuck another man then,” snapped Clint.

Tony shook his head and burst into the tears he had been fighting since the event began. He cried for Steve and Bucky, who thought he had hurt them, he cried for his friends because he knew he would lose them for hurting Steve and Bucky but at least they would be alive, and he cried for himself, for everything that had been taken from him in the span of twelve hours. He cried great, ugly sobs, in a room that wasn’t his, in front of a man he wasn’t even sure cared.

Clint studied the shattered billionaire for a long time. It didn’t seem right, Tony on his floor, absolutely wailing with grief, as though he had lost more than his boyfriends of over a year.

“JARVIS,” said Clint softly, though he knew he didn’t have to – Tony was too gone to notice anything around him. “Can you send me the feed of Tony entering the building after the gala?”

JARVIS opened a file on Clint’s tablet and let it play through for the archer, sound playing through hastily inserted earbuds. As he watched, Clint felt mounting horror for his friend. He didn’t think Tony was even aware he had been speaking to himself as he systematically stripped out of his clothes, took his own samples, and then showered until he nearly bled. And once Clint figure out what had actually happened, he looked at the man on the ground and saw the bruising around his wrists and ankles.

“Shit man,” said Clint. “Tony, fuck. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

By then, Tony had cried himself into small hiccups and stared blankly at Clint, not understanding what the archer was trying to say.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Clint, slowly getting on his knees, trying not to startle the already terrified man. “Why didn’t you tell me that asshole raped you?”

“No!” whimpered Tony, cringing away. “No, no, I begged for it. I did. I did.”

“No, you didn’t,” said Clint patiently. “Tony, you didn’t want it.”

“I did,” sobbed Tony. “Please, I wanted it.”

“What did he tell you? Did he say he would kill you if you told? No, that wouldn’t stop you. Something else then. Us? Did that man say he would hurt or kill us if you told? Tony?”

“I can’t let you guys get hurt,” whispered Tony. “You can’t get hurt because of me. And he said he’d kill you all. And who would believe me anyway? I was asking for it.”

“JARVIS, give me everything you have on this man,” said Clint, getting up and standing by the door to his room so he could watch the hall and still see Tony. “Tell Natasha to start monitoring the target. I want everything. If he so much as blinks I want to know about it. Get Steve and Bucky down here too.”

“Yes, Agent Barton,” said JARVIS, and Clint could have sworn the AI sounded relieved. 

Tony had managed to wedge himself into a corner and was crying again. Clint waited on high alert until Bucky and Steve arrived. Both looked a little worse for wear, Steve looked like he had been crying and Bucky looked as though he was close to crying but more on the side of mad than sad yet.

“What?” demanded Bucky harshly.

“Tony was raped,” said Clint bluntly.

“What?” said Steve while Bucky froze beside him. “How could you say that?”

“Because it’s true,” snapped Clint. “Look, I don’t know the details, all I know is that Tony came home from the gala without shoes, mumbling to himself about getting clean and not knowing what to do, he peed in a cup – which JARVIS hacked into the lab he’d sent it to and said that the preliminary rushed tests came back positive for date rape drugs – and that he was threatened to let people believe he had consented or we would all be killed.”

“So, that asshole raped Tony?” said Bucky slowly. “And I told him to go away. I wouldn’t even listen to him.”

“Yeah, feel guilty about it later,” said Clint dismissively when he saw Natasha approaching in full battle gear. “Right now go tell your genius that you don’t hate him. He needs you two. Nat and I will handle Fuller.”

Bucky and Steve nodded and made their way into the bedroom. Tony was still huddled in on himself, as though making himself a smaller target would make him invisible. 

“Baby, I’m so sorry,” said Steve, crouching down so he wasn’t towering over Tony. “Please, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions like that. It was wrong of me. Tony, I can’t – can I hold you?”

It seemed that was all Tony had been waiting for because he launched himself at Steve, finally receiving the comfort he had been seeking. Bucky sat down next to the pair and ran his metal hand through Tony’s messy hair. Tony sobbed and shook and screamed his fear and panic into the safety of Steve’s broad chest.

“He’s going to kill you,” cried Tony over and over. “He said he’d kill you if I told. I couldn’t let you die. But now you know and he’s going to kill you.”

“No one’s going to kill us, darlin’,” said Bucky as soothingly as possible. “Clint and Natasha are monitoring the target as we speak. Nothing get by them, we all know that. We’re fine.”

“No, he’s going to kill you, take you away from me.”

“Would you like to go to Malibu?” suggested Steve suddenly. “You rebuilt that place to be practically bomb proof. We can go there until Clint and Natasha have news for us.”

Tony nodded but refused to let go of Steve when the soldier tried to stand. Steve shot Bucky a worried look and picked Tony up, mindful of any injuries he may have sustained. They didn’t pack, the just got in the jet after asking JARVIS to inform the others of their whereabouts. Bucky didn’t fly but Steve knew how – he had long ago conquered his fear of flying planes – so Bucky sat in the back with a lapful of quivering genius while Steve flew them to Malibu.

“Darlin’, I need you to tell me what happened,” said Bucky when they were settled in the air. Steve could easily hear them but remained silent, hoping Bucky would be able to get their lover to talk.

“No,” said Tony, shaking his head against Bucky’s chest. 

“I know you’re scared but he can’t get us now.”

“Then why do you need to know?”

“Because I don’t want to trigger something and the easiest way to avoid that, to make you more comfortable, is to know the big things to look for. I know there will be smaller things, but anything helps. Please.”

Tony thought it over for a long time before speaking.

“You have to promise not to get mad,” said Tony. “Even if it’s not at me, I just can’t take anger right now.”

“I can do that,” said Bucky calmly, allowing himself to slip a little into soldier mode to help cope.

“And if I say I’m done then you can’t push for more. I don’t know how much I can talk about it right now. And if I need space, you have to give me space.”

Bucky made to pull away to do just that, but Tony whined and clung tighter.

“Don’t go,” gasped Tony. “I didn’t mean now! I meant if it gets too much and I don’t want people touching me. But not now.”

“Okay.”

With that, Tony took a deep breath and began talking. He talked about the gala, how it had been going well. He talked about what there had been to eat, who he had spoken with, how he had been sticking to water and grape juice. He talked about what he wore and about the shoes he no longer had. 

And then he talked about how things got fuzzy and how when he started getting muscle control back, it was already too late. He talked about the derogatory things Redding had said, about how no one would believe Tony because he was such a slut. He talked about how helpless he felt being tied to the couch and how he didn’t think he could be near one again without having a panic attack. He talked about how he had wanted to cry but couldn’t give Redding that satisfaction. He talked about walking home without shoes, too ashamed and scared to call for a ride. He talked about the consuming fear he still felt that Redding would hurt his family. He talked about the choice he made not to tell, because while he knew it would cost him everything, it would cost him so much more to have those he cared about killed. He talked until he ran out of voice and the entire time Steve flew the jet away from the scene of the crime and Bucky held Tony together. And when they reached Malibu and Steve landed the jet in the private hanger built just for that purpose, Tony was all talked out and asleep.

“We’re idiots,” said Steve softly as they made their way into the house.

“Get rid of that couch,” said Bucky, nodding to the couch that resided in the master bedroom.

For a long time after, neither spoke, settled on the bed, curled around their genius in the best form a human shields that would put Captain America’s shield to shame. Because that shield would only work when Captain America put it to use, but Steve and Bucky would protect their genius on their own will. And Redding Fuller was about to find out exactly what happened when you hurt someone who was only human – but also had extraordinary family.


	2. Broken

“Hello, bitch,” said Clint pleasantly. “Welcome back to the world.”

“What? Where am I?” slurred Redding, blinking his eyes open, his head pounding and mouth feeling dry.

“Your own personal form of hell,” said Natasha.

Redding looked around. He wasn’t anywhere he recognized. It looked like he was in an old storeroom or an interrogation room, but Redding honestly wasn’t familiar enough with either to tell the difference.

“I thought it’d be warmer,” said Redding, confused. “Why am I here?”

“Why don’t you tell me,” said Clint. 

“I would if I knew what you were looking for. Is this because of the eggs? Because I don’t claim to be vegan, I just provide a store for them to shop without having to read every label.”

Clint punched Redding in the stomach. 

“Try again,” Natasha said in a sing-song voice. “Next time he’ll break something. And it won’t be just a finger or arm.”

“Your dick,” said Clint helpfully. “Next time I break your dick, which really, it might help you out because isn’t that the whole reason you’re in this predicament to begin with?”

“That slut was begging for it,” said Redding arrogantly. “Couldn’t drop his pants fast enough.”

“Sorry,” said Clint coldly. “The answer I was looking for was, ‘I’m a perverted asshole who drugged and raped a hero’ so…”

Redding began screaming as Clint reached forward with a pair of tongs and a hammer.

\- May Have Failed –

Tony didn’t want to do anything. He was curled up on the bed between Bucky and Steve. He was wearing Steve’s shirt and Bucky’s pants because his own clothes made his skin crawl. And there were a million things he needed to get done but he was too exhausted to do anything. It didn’t make sense, he had slept for longer than he had in years – nightmares included – so he should be ready to tackle the world. But he wasn’t.

“Captain, there is a phone call coming in for you,” said JARVIS.

“Put him through,” sighed Steve when Tony whined slightly when Steve attempted to get up and take the call in another room.

“Rogers,” came Fury’s voice, harsh as usual. “I have a mission for you. Rogue HYRDA base off the cost of England.”

“Send someone else,” replied Steve. “I’m busy.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Send someone else. I’m busy.”

“I don’t think you understand the seriousness of this situation.”

“No, sir, I don’t think you understand. I’m not going. Bucky isn’t available either. Tony is busy. Do not contact me again for a while or I will sick JARVIS on you.”

JARVIS took his cue and disconnected the call.

“You should go,” whispered Tony, though his grip didn’t loosen on Steve’s shirt.

“I’m not going anywhere,” said Steve, pulling Tony more firmly against his chest. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Neither of us are,” said Bucky. 

“It’s been a week,” said Tony. “I shouldn’t be this pathetic. I shouldn’t need you guys to stay here with me.”

“Baby, it’s only been a week,” countered Bucky. “You’re entitled to be as clingy and take as much time as you need. There’s no formula on how to recover from what happened to you; it all depends on you. And you are our priority, not some mission Fury wants to accomplish.”

Tony sighed and with visible effort, pushed away from Steve and sat up. For the last week he had been in bed, barely venturing out to the bathroom. Nightmares plagued his sleep.

“I’m not going to let this control me,” declared Tony. “He doesn’t get that satisfaction.”

Steve and Bucky waited patiently – they had been nothing but patient. When Tony wanted space, they gave him space. When he wanted to be held, they held him. When he woke screaming they talked him down, and when he couldn’t sleep, they watched movies that they hadn’t seen. But they never lost their tempers.

“Let’s go out to eat,” said Tony. “We can go to that nice Italian place. JARVIS, make the reservation for me. Private room please.”

“Yes, Sir,” said JARVIS, a clear note of relief in his artificial voice.

The three of them showered and changed into public clothes. Steve wore khaki pants and a dark grey button up shirt. Bucky had on black jeans and a dull red shirt. Tony changed his outfit no less than five times before finally settling on dark blue jeans and a black shirt. When they were ready to head out, Tony was practically radiating energy – either from nerves or excitement was yet to be established.

When they stepped out of the car, Tony instantly grabbed Bucky’s metal hand in both of his. His nimble fingers began tapping away at the metal, a nervous habit he had picked up after removing the arc reactor and beginning dating Steve and Bucky. The machinery helped calm the genius and because Bucky liked how it felt to have someone seek out his metal arm for comfort instead of destruction, he let it continue. Steve placed his own large hand on Tony’s back and together the three made their way into the restaurant.

“Mr. Stark,” greeted the hostess Mary, a young adult working her way through college who had known Tony for several years because the genius frequented the restaurant when he was in town. “Mr. Barnes, Mr. Rogers, it’s nice to have you all here. You’re very welcome. Please come with me, I have your private room prepared.”

“Thank you, Mary,” said Steve with his easy smile when Tony didn’t respond because the genius was looking around the area.

Tony settled down a bit when they sat down in the side room, away from everyone else.

“What are you going to get?” asked Steve conversationally. “I’m thinking about getting the chicken pasta.”

“You always get the chicken pasta,” said Bucky, rolling his eyes. “I’m going to have the ravioli. Tony?”

“This was a bad idea,” muttered Tony, looking around the small room, tapping increasingly quickly on Bucky’s metal arm.

“Do you want to leave?” asked Bucky, pulling Tony onto his lap.

Surprisingly, Tony seemed calmer with the increased contact. Bucky had worried that with the violation of body Tony had experienced the genius would be opposed to physical contact but it was quite the opposite. Tony craved the contact, sought it out, and only seemed to settle when he was touching Steve or Bucky. It wasn’t exactly appropriate for the restaurant to have the billionaire on his lap but Bucky couldn’t bring himself to care when it made his boyfriend breathe easier.

“No,” sighed Tony. “I want to do this. I can do this.”

“If that’s what you want,” said Steve. “It’s all your choice.”

Tony’s choice. Steve and Bucky had emphasized that everything they did was Tony’s choice. The billionaire had had enough taken from him, been forced to do things against his will, that his boyfriends wanted to give him some semblance of control back and to do that left it up to Tony what they did and how they did it. 

“I want to do this,” said Tony again, more to himself than to the others.

“Hello,” said Summer, the twenty-four year old waitress who was always assigned to Tony’s table because she was discreet and never pushy and hadn’t even known who Tony was the first time she waited on him and Tony liked that. “I hope you don’t mind but I already put in an order for your favorite appetizers.”

“Thank you, Summer,” said Steve. He could have kissed the young lady for the way she didn’t bat an eye at Tony sitting on Bucky’s lap while she set down their water glasses.

“Would you like to hear the specials?” offered Summer.

“Actually, I think we’ll just take a one of every special and every dessert,” said Tony. “How’s your boyfriend?”

“Actually he’s my fiancé now,” said Summer brightly. “He proposed last weekend.”

“About damn time,” grunted Bucky. “It’s been like ten years.”

“Ten years of friendship, but only five years of dating,” corrected Summer. 

“What Bucky meant was congratulations,” said Steve. “We’re very happy for you.”

“Thank you.”

Summer skipped out of the room, closing the door as she went.

“You’re going to leave a ridiculous tip, aren’t you?” said Steve, grinning at Tony.

“Of course I am,” said Tony with a ghost of a smile. “She’s getting married. She’s getting a huge tip.”

“You always give her a huge tip,” said Bucky.

“Well she deserves it every time. She’s great at her job, never nosy, and she works here as her second job – she’s a teacher during the day. This is to help her pay the bills and support her younger sisters. Her parents died last year and Summer took custody of her sisters so they wouldn’t go into foster care. She barely makes enough to get by, I will always tip her more than needed.”

Steve and Bucky shook their heads. Tony was the most kind hearted person they had ever met and it was difficult to believe that anyone would set out to hurt him.

“How do you even know these things?” asked Bucky, nuzzling Tony’s neck.

Before he could answer, there was a crash in the main area – a man stood up suddenly and ran into a waiter who dropped the tray of food he was carrying, resulting in the crash. But in the small, private room, all they heard was the crash and the sudden noise startled Tony, sending him into fight of flight mode. The billionaire instantly tried to get away from Bucky, tumbling out of his lap and into the nearest corner as quickly as possible.

“Tony,” said Steve, crouching down in front of the trembling billionaire. “Tony, you’re okay, it’s okay.”

“It was just a noise,” said Bucky, who had taken up a place guarding the door after checking outside for a threat.

“Come here, baby,” said Steve, reaching out and dragging Tony to him, joining the genius in the corner.

Tony went willingly, all but collapsing on Steve as soon as the soldier was close enough to catch him.

“I can still feel him on me,” sobbed Tony, clutching as Steve’s shirt. “Make him stop, Steve. Make him go away.”

“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” said Steve, helplessly throwing a look at Bucky, his heart shattering at his boyfriend’s words. “You’re okay, he can’t touch you now. No one is going to let him touch you.”

“I want this to be over,” begged Tony. “Please.”

“I’m sorry,” said Steve, his own tears filling his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I was out of country. Also, this story decided it needed 3 chapters instead of just two...mainly because I felt like ending it here would be the tiniest bit cruel.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari

**Author's Note:**

> Turns out I just really enjoy writing requests instead of working on what I'm supposed to be doing (like my other stories and painting the house).
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
